Sir.—A recent editorial1 concluded that "pharmacologic treatments of hyperactivity and attention deficit disorder [ADD] with stimulant therapies have had disappointing long-term outcome measures." True. The same conclusion can be made about insulin treatment of diabetes mellitus if treatment is stopped at age 13 years, which is a common practice for ADD.
One tends to forget that ADD is a chronic problem and must be treated as such. In fact, when adolescents receive stimulants for ADD, they generally respond well.2-6 The problem continues into adulthood, and adults' conditions, too, improve with stimulant therapy.7-12 Attention deficit disorder is most probably an inborn disorder of the central nervous system, and inborn disorders of that nature have a propensity to hang on for life.